


Nightmare Eyes

by captainpeach



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, As All My Fics Are, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainpeach/pseuds/captainpeach
Summary: Something is targetting the elves in trollberg, and it's up to Hilda and her friends to round the creature up and put a stop to it.-Classic Hilda adventure type stuff with my own personal touch
Relationships: Alfur & Hilda (Hilda), Alfur & Johanna | Hilda's mum (Hilda), Hilda & Johann | Hilda's mum (Hilda), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	Nightmare Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> woohoo! more self-indulgent fic!

Beautiful days like these shouldn’t be wasted. Or at least, that’s how Alfur saw it. Maybe he was simply homesick for the wilderness where the northern counties were settled, but something was nagging him to visit the forest. It was a nice day, so a walk was in order anyway. Hilda was off on an adventure so it would just be him. Besides, he reasoned with himself, he could visit the lost clan while he was out and about. It had been some time since he’d seen Bartell and the others. You didn’t see much of them unless you went looking.

So, with a small hum, he pushed his chair away from his desk and reached for his cloak. He double-checked his nittens food and water bowl and blew a goodbye kiss to peppercorn as he stepped out of the makeshift clock house, the door closed with a click behind him. He hopped down from the shelf to Hilda’s bed, then to the ground.

-

He heard Mom before he saw her. She was whistling to herself, and as he rounded the corner, he saw her huddled over her work desk. She was drawing what appeared to be a bird, though it was still in the early sketching stages, so it was a little hard to tell what kind. He smiled fondly and climbed up onto the desk.

“Good morning!”

“Oh!” Mom jumps, looking around before her eyes landed on his, and she smiled “Oh, Alfur, you gave me a bit of a fright”

His smile turned sheepish. Even if she had signed the contract, Alfur was hard to see given how small he was. He always forgot about that. Being in the city where everything was big was very different from being out in the northern counties. Hilda and Mom had been the only humans out there, everything else had been sized for them. Needless to say, he still wasn’t quite used to it.

“Ah, my bad”

“Hm, well I see you’re all dressed for an adventure, are you headed somewhere?”

Alfur gave her a dutiful nod “That I am!” he said, adjusting his cloak slightly and shifting his hat back into place “I figure it’s too nice of a day to spend inside, so I’ve decided to find a nice place outside to write my reports”

Mom smiled at him “well, maybe I should try that myself some time. You have fun, but be careful” he nodded and waved goodbye as he hopped onto the window sill and made his way outside.

It was a beautiful day if he said so himself. It wasn’t too warm or too cold, the sun was lazily climbing the sky. If he had to guess he’d say it was at least 9:50, which meant he had plenty of time to walk. He went straight back to the wall and walked alongside it, preferring the quiet path to the one through the city to the forest. Even if he knew the humans in trollberg couldn’t see or touch him, it was still a rather stressful path to navigate.

There was no clear path in the forest. He wondered whether it was intentional, or simply that no one had bothered to make one that went this way. Either way, it meant he needed to be mindful of where he was. It was easy to get lost out here even when you’re not as small as he is. So his notebook remained ready in his hand, jotting down different things he could use to find his way back home.

He had not been out in the forest on his own in a while. In the wilderness, he would be out and about regularly, having adventures of his own. Though he had to admit, his were much less exciting than the ones he had been dragged along on by Hilda. His life, he mused, had gotten much more interesting since meeting her. He could say with certainty that he didn’t mind one bit. He had never been inclined to adventure. A writer, not a fighter. And certainly not an adventurer.

But then Hilda had come into his life, with her bright imagination, and willingness to jump into just about anything with barely half a thought. It was tiring, but it certainly made for good reports back to the counties. And quite a few fond memories. He had certainly grown fond of Hilda and her mother, and he couldn’t imagine being without them now.

He found himself lost in his thoughts, rather introspective that morning. But that also meant he didn’t notice the movement in the bushes beside him. And he just barely caught the small growl that pulled him from his thoughts. He turned around to look behind himself, his brow furrowing in concern. Trying to ignore the small, but mounting, anxiety in his chest, he turned back. Only to be met with a large pair of eyes.

He yelped and scrambled backward as the creature jumped forward, paws outstretched. The claws barely missed him as he recovered from his stumble and ran. He didn’t have time to get a good look at it. But whatever it was, it was following him, and its legs were much longer than his. His breath came out in short, sharp puffs as he ran. He was certainly not known for his athleticism.

He was about to scramble up a tree when the forest floor was suddenly pulled from under his feet. Or he was pulled from it. The creature had grabbed the back of his cloak with its teeth and picked him up. Alfur screamed, waving his arms and legs frantically, trying to get the thing to let go of his cloak as it shook him. His head spun, this thing was much bigger than him, and it was far from a fair fight. Perhaps if he’d had Hilda or Mom along he would be safely tucked in a pocket, or on a shoulder. But it was just him.

The creature tossed him aside, and he slammed against the trunk of a tree before falling to the grass. He groaned weakly, trying to push himself up until a paw came down and pressed him against the forest floor. The creature leaned down and nudged him with its nose. It let out a huff and a plume of some sort of dust blew into his face. He saw those wide eyes again, and then he saw nothing.

-

Hilda’s day had been nothing short of pleasant. She, Frida, and David had gone to the beach to collect shells for a sparrow scouts badge. It had been a relatively calm day, with no big adventure or mysterious creatures. Nonetheless, she was tuckered out and ready to settle in for the night.

The sun was beginning to go down as she entered the house, swinging the door open with a cheery call of “I’m home!” her mother, who was in the kitchen with a cup of tea, looked up at her as she announced her presence.

“Welcome home sweetheart, how was shell collecting?”

“Oh, it was great! We found all the shells required for our badges, and then we went and fed the fish.”

Her mother made a hum that she had come to understand meant “that’s nice, dear”. she yawned and shuffled out of her boots. Her arms stretched over her head as she made her way to the kitchen. Her eyes scanned the room, usually at this time of day Alfur was with mom drinking tea in the kitchen. But the elf was nowhere to be seen.

“Is Alfur home?”

Her mom looked up and glanced around as if she had just noticed the lack of the elf’s presence. “He went out for a walk this morning” she sounded concerned, and Hilda could understand why. Alfur was not one to stay out so late, on the rare occasion he went out on his own, he would always be home before late afternoon. But now the sun was low in the sky, and he was nowhere to be found.

Hilda ran to her room and pushed the door open “Alfur?” she called, to no response. The small worry in her chest grew. She opened the clock door and peered inside, a little apologetic at the invasion of privacy “Alfur, are you there?” the clock house was empty. His nitten, peppercorn, was sitting quietly by the door. Her food and water bowl were both empty. Hilda knew for a fact that Alfur wouldn’t have left his nitten alone without everything she needed.

“Hilda? Is something wrong?”

Hilda turned to her mother, actively trying not to freak out “He’s not here, he should’ve been home by now!” her mom frowned and walked over, putting her hands on Hilda’s shoulders.

“Okay, it’ll be alright. Get your shoes on and we’ll go out and look for him.”

Hilda was about to do just that when there was a tap at the window. She turned, a hopeful expression on her face. It was an elf, but it wasn’t Alfur. It was a clan elf.

-

Bartell kneeled beside the elf laying in the grass. He thanked the gods silently that he and his patrol group had been out. He shuddered to think what might have happened had they not shown up and chased the beast away. The elf in front of him already had a nasty bite in his side. A city elf, one he recognized and he knew was certainly no match for that creature. At least not on his own.

He tugged his glove off and placed two fingers against Alfur’s neck, just under his jaw. He could feel a steady pulse, but now and then it faltered. He sighed and moved his hand from Alfur’s neck to place it gently on his cheek, and turn his head towards him. His brow was furrowed and his mouth turned in a frightened frown. He was paler than usual, and his breath was labored and shallow.

Bartell whistled his pigeon over and waved to another elf. He picked up the notebook lying on the ground and jotted down Hilda’s address. He handed it to the elf.

“Go to the girl, tell her we found her friend.” his patrol member gave a dutiful nod and ran off to his pigeon, taking off only a second later. Bartell turned back to Alfur, his frown deepening. He kneeled and picked up Alfur with ease and hoisted the elf onto Cedric, the pigeon. He hopped onto the pigeon, leaning Alfur gently against him as he took the reins and noted with worry that his hands were stained red.

-

Hilda ran to the elf, climbing onto her bed to lean on the windowsill. The elf cleared their throat and held out a tiny notebook. Alfur’s notebook. Her stomach dropped and she looked down at the elf.

“We found your friend in the woods. I don’t want to worry you, but he was in rough shape”

Hilda placed her palms flat against the window sill, her face turning serious.

“Take us to him.”


End file.
